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The failure of crops this summer in southwestern Honduras would be classified by the United Nations World Food Program as a 'silent emergency'. It is unlikely that the disaster will attract international attention; nor will it irreparably damage Honduras' agricultural industry. The area is unimportant - though it has strengths in coffee, its basic grain production is dwarfed by the agricultural power belt that runs through Comayagua, Olancho and Colón. However, for the communities affected, the collapse of this food source is insupportable. Shortages will hit families already categorized as chronically malnourished. It is among these communities that the emergency will be - the loss of lives. The victims of Honduras' food problem.

It is estimated that 30% of Honduras' children are malnourished - a greater percentage than in either Nicaragua or El Salvador. Malnutrition is a key contributor to the country's child mortality rate. The condition is severe, particularly in children, causing stunted growth and mental development, deficiency diseases such as scurvy and death. It is a problem common to almost every third world country, augmented by the paradox of necessity - the need to have many children to ensure the family's survival, yet the inability to feed such a large family.

Honduras is an agricultural nation. Bananas, shrimp, coffee and palm oil are all key agricultural exports. Maize and beans, which form the basis of the Honduran diet, are produced in sufficient quantities to feed its population. "There isn't a problem with a shortage of food," Jaime Vallaure, representative of the World Food Program in Honduras, explained. The problem is one of distribution.

The list of affected provinces in southwestern Honduras is unsurprising: Intibucá, Lempira, Valle, La Paz, the north of Choluteca and the south of Francisco Morazan and El Paraiso. They are Honduras' least developed areas. They are the areas which Rodrigo Castillo Aguilar of the Liberal Party classifies as an "attitude of indifference" by the government, as quoted in El Heraldo. They are areas plagued by poor education and a great deal of poverty - the two basic ingredients for malnutrition.

"The World Food Program only works in countries that are not equal," Vallaure continued. "It is this inequality that is the root of the problem." Palm oil is given as an example. "One of the most important food substances needed to treat a child with malnutrition is vegetable oil. Honduras produces this in great amounts. Yet those who own the palm oil in Honduras are not those that are suffering malnutrition. Almost all Honduras' palm oil is exported to the US." Honduran families do not have economic access to the right food at the right time. The problem is such that the World Food Program in Honduras is forced to import palm oil from Canada.

The second factor, poor education in nutrition, is equally frustrating. "Mothers don't know what or how to feed their children. They have no idea about diet, quantities or frequencies. Perhaps worse, mothers who cannot provide for their children are pressurized into buying fast food. While on one side we have children dying because they aren't receiving the right nutrients, on the other we have a growing rate of child obesity," Vallaure lamented.

The challenges are inexorable. Of the more than 300,000 cases of chronic malnutrition in Honduras, the World Food Program is currently able to help only 5,000.

So too is the Honduran government entirely unequipped to deal with the situation. Malnutrition is not considered the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and very few funds are available for the treatment of malnourished children.

The children of this country should be able to live healthy lives, where there is no malnutrition and every child should have the opportunity to grow, educated and to live a happy life.